Here's what is known about the deadly collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter

A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., sending the two aircraft plummeting into the Potomac River and killing everyone on board.

The collision occurred at around 9 p.m. Wednesday in one of the world's most tightly controlled airspaces, just over 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of the White House and U.S. Capitol. An overnight search-and-rescue effort turned into a recovery operation Thursday. The cause is under investigation.

Here are some things to know about the collision:

The crash

The collision involved a regional jet out of Wichita, Kansas, that was preparing to land and a military helicopter carrying three soldiers that was on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Skies were clear at the time.

A few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could do so on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later, saying "PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ" — apparently telling the copter to wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no reply, and the aircraft collided seconds later.

The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 meters) short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac. The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, officials said.

The helicopter's wreckage was also found in the river.

NTSB investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the plane, said agency spokesperson Peter Knudson.

The investigation and questions

Federal investigators will try to piece together the moments before the collision, including any communication between the two aircraft and air traffic controllers, as well as other pilot actions and the altitude of both aircraft.

One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.

The work is normally assigned to two people in the tower so the configuration was “not normal,” the report said. But a person familiar with the matter said staffing at the tower Wednesday night was at a normal level.

The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, are in the process of a shift change, or air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.

At a news conference, President Donald Trump — without evidence — cast blame on the helicopter pilots and baselessly alleged that diversity initiatives had undermined air safety.

The victims

It was the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2001. At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters, including those of the three soldiers who were on the helicopter.

Among the passengers were members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from a development camp that followed the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.

In all, 14 people from the skating community were on the plane, said club CEO Doug Zeghibe. They included teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, the teens' mothers and two Russian-born coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won a 1994 world championship in pairs skating.

The victims included an Ohio college student coming from her grandfather’s funeral and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip in Kansas. Three students from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, and six parents from the district also were on the plane, said superintendent Michelle Reid. Also aboard were four steamfitters, all members of a United Association union local in suburban Maryland, union leaders said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said two Chinese nationals were among the victims.

Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around Washington. Their identities have not been released, but the wife of one of the helicopter pilots said on Facebook that her husband, Andrew Eaves of Noxubee County Mississippi, was killed.

DC’s crowded airspace

Located along the Potomac just southwest of Washington, Reagan Airport is much closer to the city than the larger Dulles International Airport in a congested and complex airspace that requires pilots to navigate among hundreds of commercial planes, military aircraft, and around restricted areas that include sensitive sites.

Federal authorities and aviation experts have expressed concerns about an increase in close calls between planes, and pilots have long worried about the airspace's complexity contributing to a catastrophe. At Reagan in May, an American Airlines plane rolling down the runway canceled its takeoff to avoid another plane that was landing on an intersecting runway. It was the second close call at the airport in six weeks.

A little more than 24 hours before Wednesday’s collision, a different regional jet descending to land at Reagan executed a go-around maneuver because of a military helicopter in the same area. Flight tracking sites and air traffic control logs show the Embraer E-175 was cleared to land and advised about a helicopter in its vicinity. It executed the go-around after its automated collision avoidance system ordered what is known as a “resolution advisory” to avoid nearby traffic, which put the aircraft out of proper alignment for landing. It landed safely minutes later without incident.

The aircraft

The helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, according to the Army.

The plane was a Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet and was manufactured in 2004. It can carry up to 70 passengers.

History of fatal aircraft crashes

Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the U.S. are rare. The last major crash was in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. All 45 passengers and the four crew members were killed when the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane crashed into a house. One person on the ground was also killed.

In November 2001, an American Airlines flight crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard.

The collision Wednesday recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, killing 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.

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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington and reporters from throughout the U.S. contributed.